Temple of Arrkettil in Lastar

The Temple of Arrkettil in Lastar is the largest of Arrkettil's temples in the Eosian Empire.

History

Post-Death and Pre-Deification

Arrkettil was the Queen of the Kingdom of Naer between 510 and 490 BA. During her two decade reign, she had a particular focus on medicines and treatment of the sick, leading to her reputation as a benevolent and saintly ruler. Despite this, she wasn't deified immediately after her death; as her death marked the end of the Queendom Era, and scholars and bishops began focussing on preserving older Naeran documents, rather than deifying Arrkettil. Despite this, Arrkettil had early worshippers in the years after her death. Though small shrines were established across the Kingdom, the largest was in Lastar, a small settlement in the present-day province of Milran. Despite being isolated from the rest of the Kingdom, there was symbolic reason for its location; it was located near the site of a large scale battle with the Kingdom of Sunder, where Arrkettil had first utilized many of her innovations in battlefield medicine, and was also located in a part of the grasslands where the light of Naer was particularly strong, which bolstered Arrkettil's followers, due to the Queen's association with holy and healing light.
The site was originally a small pile of stones on the edge of the town, decorated with white candles. Over the years, followers began carving Elven runes into the stones, causing them to faintly glow under Naer's light. The small shrine garnered numerous visitors over the years, from distant Arrkettil devotees to curious travellers who needed a place to rest. The shrine faced occasional vandalism, but was kept well-maintained by the local bishopric. Around 200 BA, a small wooden structure was built behind the shrine for travellers and pilgrims to rest in, though it couldn't legally be considered a church or a hovel since Arrkettil was not a deified ruler. Thus, it became a common phrase amongst devotees of Arrkettil that 'paying a visit to that inn up the river' meant they were travelling to Arrkettil's shrine, a slang phrase that remains in use to this day.

After Deification

The wooden shack was expanded multiple times over the years, accommodating more and more travellers, though in later years it, along with the small pile of rocks outside, became quite neglected. This came to a head in 125 BA when, during the Final War with Sunder, an attack by Tiefling forces resulted in much of the wooden structure burning down. The shrine was effectively abandoned for the duration of the war, and didn't receive any work until Arrkettil was deified in 119 BA, three hundred and seventy one years after her death. By this point, the wood structure had fully collapsed, the stone shrine outside protected from the elements by a layer of burnt splinters and debris, though it had still received some damage. Due to the prevalence of the shrine amongst her faithful, it was decided to make Lastar the holy city of Arrkettil, with her temple being established on the site of the shrine.

Architecture

After the old wooden structure was removed, a new temple was constructed where it had been. The decision was made to incorporate the old stone shrine into the design of the new building, and it now stands in the middle of a small park in front of the temple, protected by stasis magic and ringed by decorative plants. The temple itself is built from white marble sourced from the Dwarves, with golden accents along the windows and in the decorative masonry that lines the walls. The temple is built to be evocative of a battlefield medic tent, with a simple yet powerful design that rises above the town of Lastar. The walls slant up slightly, as a tent would, before tapering off into the smooth marble roof.
The main door is build using birch sourced from the northern tribes, and has the symbol of Arrkettil set into with gold leaf. To either side of the main door are two large carvings, both of Arrkettil; one depicts her facing to the right and has her holding a book in her right hand and a yarrow flower in her left, symbolic of her healing aspect, while the other depicts her facing to the left and has her holding a lantern in her right hand, symbolic of her light aspect. A depiction of Naer sits above the door, bathing both carvings in a gentle glow. The sides of the temple are lined with windows, designed to maximize the light of Naer when it shines during the night.

^{Symbol of Arrkettil}

Founding Date

118 BA, though older structures existed on the site

Type

Temple / Church

Parent Location

Lastar, Milran Province

Owning Organization

The Eosian Empire